The Mines of Madness

Week 4

In which the party has some door troubles

5

FEB/14

After defeating Pax the party attempt a long rest, only to find the queer magical energies in the mine prevent them from sleeping properly, denying them new hit dice.

The party investigate the doors in the southern wall. The tunnel in the eastermost one (area 10) sets off everyone’s trap alarm, though despite repeated attempts at remotely triggering it the party succeeds only in shooting a corpse in the torso and knocking the other one over with a rock bowled from the doorway 40 feet away.

The next door, being barred with a heavy iron spike in the floor, proves both more challenging and intriguing. Murphy punches a hole in the door and Tretch peers through, seeing nothing in the shallow room. The party widens the hole in the door with tools gathered from the floor of the workspace (area 9) and Tretch climbs through, instantly teleported into the pitch blackness of the rust monster lair (area 22). The monk enters the portal as Tretch lights a torch, instantly attracting the attention of the rust monsters. The two monsters converge on them, Tretch’s metal sword and studded armour forcing him to retreat. The monk, however, has no such problems and manages to beat the rust monsters to death.

Meanwhile, Alastair and Murphy investigate the western door, but finding nothing remarkable about the corridor within (area 12), decide the best course is to follow their friends through the portal. Reunited, the party travels north past the lift before turning east (under area 20) to mine shaft Krimhold (area 23) where they encounter the ghost at the bottom. A few minutes of conversing convinces the party they are dealing with some kind of automation and Tretch is lowered into the pit to find the source. He moves the collapsed scaffolding around but is unable to find the source of the disembodied voice, so the party continue on.

They turn north, eventually finding themselves at the door ‘guarded’ by a gargoyle (area 26). The monk starts throwing rocks at it; Alastair discerns the gargoyle is alive and tries to convince the monk to cease. He doesn’t (sorta; Rob refused to acknowledge the successful skill check). Tretch, meanwhile, attempts to open the door and activates the trap. Although he dodges the spear, it hits Alastair, who is too busy arguing with the monk to avoid it.

The party attempts to break through the door; Alastair freezes the hinges and Murphy punches them off. This has no effect on the door (because it’s a fake).